


Morning Routine

by Adoakrabley



Series: Eruri snippets [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cursing because Levi, Homoeroticism between old men in love, M/M, Shaving, Vague relationship, disgusting really, just something indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24555754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adoakrabley/pseuds/Adoakrabley
Summary: A morning where Levi find Erwin struggling to shave, from the loss of his dominant hand. He helps, and it becomes routine.
Relationships: Levi/Erwin Smith
Series: Eruri snippets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785484
Comments: 12
Kudos: 118





	Morning Routine

A sunny morning; fine, scenic- calm morning.

Levi balanced two steaming cups of tea on a tray- _black tea_ \- down the hallway. He wasn’t in a haste, there was a slow day ahead. Too slow for comfort but Levi wouldn’t bark at a blessing. _No matter how leery he is_.

The hallway deserted, just Levi’s heeled boots tapping lightly against the wooden floor echoed out throughout. The ends of his hair hadn’t completely dried from the early morning shower. _Bothersome-_ he thought of the drop that went past the edge of the tray. The place is well lit, even under the soft rays of the morning sun. The walls though- chipped and moldy; comparatively shiny floors did give Levi a trickle of hope. The soot in the lanterns hadn’t been cleaned out in this place, not for a long time; so hasn’t the ceiling. Levi swallowed down his itch to look at it, opting to instead to look straight ahead- _I won’t have to come back here in a few days anyways_ \- at the door he had come for. The room being used as an infirmary.

He hadn’t waited long for the soft knock to be answered before bracing the tray against the door and twisting the handle. The room wasn’t as bright as it was out in the windowed hallway, casting a feint menacing shadow of him in front. It was lit enough for Levi to see the neatly made bed- _except the pillow still with a dip in the middle-_ where his eyes darted to first and then to find Erwin standing at the mirror. _He’s up already_.

Levi walked in, “You are making a mess.” he commented, at Erwin who stood in front of the mirror with half his face covered in suds; a few attempts at a clean swipe of a razor evident in shaky lines through it. “Hmm-” the response sounded non-committal. Erwin had already started another attempt, clumsy and uncoordinated. _He doesn’t want me to pay attention to him._ Levi watched him try for a second before putting the tray on the table by the window. He pulled the curtain aside, opened it up and walked to Erwin to simply pluck the razor from Erwin's hand.

“Cut the crap, you suck at this.”

“I’ll have to start learning.”

Levi eyed the small cut by his jaw- _You can’t learn to be left-handed in a week, stubborn man-_

“Not today.”

Thus, Levi found himself behind a seated Erwin- _not a word more of persuasion needed_ \- who was waiting. A small wet towel resting on Erwin’s shoulder, standard issue razor held in one hand, spreading soap-cream of some sort from a bottle on Erwin’s cheeks, throat and jaw with another. _I wouldn’t have had to worry about shaving this soon_ , Levi thinks but the guy grew hair quick judging by the harsh stubble. _First time I see it_.

Levi roamed his hands around gently, to coat it all of course; around the curve of his jaw, the thin skin of his throat, carefully getting above his upper lip. The coarse texture wasn’t something he had felt usually- _other than when I touch up my undercut_ , and definitely not from Erwin. He could feel the eyes on him as he worked, he knew if he looked there would be bright blue eyes staring right back at him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted that; and he _looked_.

And _he was right_.

Levi wiped his hand on the towel, trying to get the grip of the razor to _shave_ someone. Erwin took the liberty to lean more against Levi’s chest. The stool didn’t offer much support in any case. But it did cause Levi to look down again.

“Do you like to feel tall?” Erwin always said this whenever he found himself under eye level to Levi. With a patronizing glint in eyes to boot. Something about Levi secretly liking to look down on people. _It shows in the way you like to talk to people with your chin tilted up, Levi_. And like always, Levi never dignified that with an answer.

“I could also shave these overgrown eyebrows off your face-” He said- _threatened_ \- and he did, Levi did, with hands resting on Erwin’s shoulders, think his eyebrows were quite overgrown- _thick_ . “Do they bother you Levi?” The sudden drop in volume in his voice hardly registered Levi’s mind because of the familiarity to it, the edge of the words had smoothed out- _softened_ \- and Levi found himself bouncing the question around in his head. _Do his eyebrows really bother me?_ He settled on, “No.”

“Then no.” An upturn of his lips looked easy and ridiculous. He did basically have a beard of white at that moment. _Self-satisfied bastard._

Levi got to work. He was met with a shudder, “That’s cold.”

Levi ignored it in favor of swiping down experimentally, pleased to see it result in a clean shave. It was hard to gauge how soft or how hard to press when it’s not your own skin which you can’t feel. _Or skin you’re not actively trying to cut through._ But after a while, Levi got the feel for it. Swipe with small, sharp strokes; wipe the razor clean on the towel; do it again.

“It feels different when someone else does it. I think it’s because I can’t anticipate the touch.”

“Mhmm.” Levi started on the side of his face, not sure how much of the side-burn to keep. _Eh, it will grow back_ . The room was less stuffy by now and Levi felt the humble presence of fresh breeze. It let him breathe freely. _As free as you can with someone else breathing your air_. With his sides shaved- satisfactory- the turn of the wrist came easy by then, half his face was done already. Erwin continued to fill the air between them with chatter,

“I don’t think I have ever seen you shave.”

“Hgn”

“Black stubble would be quite noticeable.”

“Yeah.”

Levi found himself quite annoyed for how carefully he was trying to do this, Erwin would not stop talking. _I don’t think he realizes how hard it is to shave skin that is moving._ “The drag-”

“Can you shut up before I cut you?” Erwin complied quickly swallowing whatever words that were about to surface and promptly closed his mouth. Levi continued in silence. The breaths falling against his palms now getting center stage in his senses. Warmth seeped through two layers between Erwin’s bicep, the stump left of his right hand and Levi’s stomach. His hair matted and coarse- _without that shit he uses to keep it “tidy”_ \- under his hand placed there to steady him. Erwin’s eyes that _followed_ him through it all.

Wasn’t Erwin the one who was supposed to feel exposed? Under a microscope?

Levi moved down to his throat, subtly coaxing his chin up, thumbing the skin around before scraping down. The pulse point hummed under his blade. Such thin skin, the veins stood out against his pale skin, they _thrummed_ with life. One wrong move- _no_ \- one _purposeful_ move and-

It really wasn’t the time to ponder the ramifications of _trust_ in their world. Of how much he had of Erwin Smith and how much of it he would reciprocate; if only asked to.

“I could kill you right now.” He didn’t know if he spoke it out to Erwin specifically or wondered out loud. _I’m sure he realizes it too_.

Erwin didn’t reply. He seemed to have taken the command to shut up seriously. Or felt he didn’t have to respond to absurd- but correct observations. Maybe he felt that Levi realising, or rather just noticing it as a matter of fact was _funny._ He moved his hands to look at Erwin this time, and as expected he was looking at him with amusement. As if to say, You could kill me any time, anywhere with your skill.

_You could have killed me a hundred times over by now._

The towel was positively dirty by the time Levi finished. His head, uncannily dizzy from leaning down- _not a significant amount_ \- or from the way he had started getting conscious of even exhaling. The sun was more aggressive than when he came in; morning had truly begun. He walked back to his place behind Erwin, giving his hands and blade the final wipe down before taking the towel off Erwin’s shoulder, replacing it with his elbow; a thumb stroking against his cheekbone. _It’s smooth_ . Levi looked back at him through the mirror. _He’s back to being at least half the man he is._

“Thank you,” Erwin said. _For doing this, for being with me right now, for everything_.

They looked at each other. Erwin closed his eyes and Levi found something to look at to his right.

Erwin leaned against his palm, Levi let him.

He felt an exhausted sigh against his skin- maybe not. He felt a kiss on his fingers- _maybe not_.

Levi ran a hand through his hair, just barely. It always felt better without gunk. But Levi would prefer it the other way. He eyed the deserted cups, “Our tea got cold.”

  
And for the next, numerous times- _everyday_ \- Erwin had asked him to shave him down, as he said, Levi had never felt the need to remind him that he could already draw portraits with his left hand.


End file.
